Dive Brief:
- Minnesota's first nurse-led clinic is is opening today in downtown Minneapolis.
- The clinic, which is one of around 250 of its kind in the US, will offer primary care services by nurse practitioners and also an onsite pharmacist.
- The University of Minnesota School of Nursing launched the clinic and plans to also use it as a training facility for student nurses, pharmacists and other providers.
Dive Insight:
To date, 20 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws that allow nurses to practice without direct supervision by a physician. The Minnesota law went into effect last year. Historically, state medical societies have opposed the legislation, claiming that nurses are not equipped to provide the same quality of care as physicians. "With all of these new people coming on under the Affordable Care Act, no single discipline is going to be able to handle those patients," Ken Miller, president of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, told Modern Healthcare. Miller also said that nurse practitioners are well-positioned to fill the need for primary care.